


We Are Who We Are

by TheEmberGirl



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, F/M, and on of my favourite timeframes: late medieval/early modern, it's more of a "what would their relationship be like in this AU", set in one of my favourite settings: pseudo-Europe, this is actually a bit more boring than the summary suggests
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-02
Updated: 2017-08-02
Packaged: 2018-12-10 05:22:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,863
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11684952
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheEmberGirl/pseuds/TheEmberGirl
Summary: There were reasons to keep their relationship secret. For individuals as powerful as they were, a line between love and duty must be drawn.crossposted from tumblr





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Originally a this was a short oneshot based on a fanart I saw, and then I decided to explore the universe a little more and it got out a little out of hand. Crossposted from tumblr because I was frustrated by the lack of notes. At least here I can stoke my ego by checking the number of views.

Giselle cursed silently as she ran, as necessary as this retreat was, it was humiliating nevertheless. If only she hadn’t been surprised into dropping her sword, then her pursuers would have no chance, but at the moment all she could do was run, unarmed, back towards the more familiar terrain of the town. There, winding streets would impede the bandits on her trail, and a makeshift weapon could be found to dispatch them with. She looked behind herself and was dismayed to find the bandits were gaining on her, but the town was closer than they were, and heaving a breath Giselle increased her speed. Reaching the town she rounded the corner to the gates and slammed into another body. She was about to mutter an apology and carry on when she felt an arm wrap around her. Giselle’s first instinct was to struggle, she’d be damned before she went down without a fight, even if two groups of enemies had caught her at once. She was ready to kick, punch and bite, but stopped as she recognised the uniform of the person restraining her and noticed the sword arm extended protectively in front of her. Her pursuers froze as they arrived, then turned and fled from the drawn swords of her associate Arthur Kirkland and his men.

‘You alright?’ Arthur asked as they leave.

‘I would have been fine on my own!’ Giselle replied through gritted teeth, disentangling herself from him. She glared at him despite the fact she was still winded, face flushed with exertion and embarrassment.

‘There were five of them! And you didn’t have a weapon!’

‘I could have handled them easily once I was inside the town!’ Giselle maintained stubbornly.

Arthur gave up on his attempt to argue with her.

‘You’re impossible, you know that?’ he said with a sigh. ‘And not even a “thank you”. He added in a mutter.

Giselle pretended not to hear the last part.

‘So are you,’ she retorted.

Behind Arthur, one of his men snickered, most likely his second-in-command Jones.

‘You might be the commander of the Royal Guard, but you’re still only one woman,’ Arthur spoke with exasperation. ‘You can’t just go scope out a smuggling ring on your own.’

‘Well you and your men took your sweet time getting around to doing that. Did you just let them go there, by the way?’

‘No, I didn’t. I’d sent another group to do some scouting when I realised you weren’t where you were supposed to be. They’ll probably be waiting for those bandits by the time they get back to wherever it was that you stumbled on them. And if you don’t like my methods, why did you follow me all the way out here in the first place?’

Despite the fact his back was turned to them, Arthur was aware of the growing amusement of his men.

‘You already know that the King commanded I go on leave, and I very well won’t just sit around doing nothing, so I decided to check on what my Royal Army equivalent was doing out in backwaters like these.’

Jones snickered again, and Giselle ignored him as she continued to bicker with Arthur. Let Jones think what he wanted, but she’d never give him the satisfaction of knowing that he was right about them. 


	2. Chapter 2

There were only two rooms on this level of the inn; the best rooms that could be afforded to people with rankings as high as theirs. Arthur hovered uncertainly by the door of the room opposite to his own, and thought better of knocking upon it. The room was occupied by Royal Guard Commander Giselle Beilschmidt, who would most likely be at the desk at this hour, writing into her meticulously precise journals or planning the next training exercise for the Guards. He’d been there when a foreign diplomat had asked Giselle whether it was true that the Royal Guard was nicknamed the Amazonian Guard because she actively excluded men from joining. Giselle had stared coldly at the diplomat until he’d become uncomfortable. “I do not restrict who is permitted to join the Guard” was what she’d told him, “But I refuse to tolerate insubordination, and most men seem to be unable to respect and are determined to undermine the authority of women”. As the diplomat nodded dumbly in response, she’d scanned the room to meet Arthur’s eyes briefly, with a smile that disappeared so quickly he could have imagined it conveying that she did not include him in that majority. He hoped she’d continue thinking that way as he entered her room unannounced. As expected Giselle sat at the desk, turning sharply as she heard the door open.

‘You shouldn’t be here,’

Arthur knew her well enough to tell she’d relaxed when she saw him, even if her tone didn’t show it.

‘We need to talk,’ he said, closing the door slowly behind him.

‘If this is about what happened earlier today; I already told you I would have had it under control.’ Giselle turned back to the papers before her. ‘You shouldn’t be here.’ She repeated. ‘You know the risks.’

Indeed, Arthur did know the risks. For the sake of the nation their relationship must remain secret, as together they controlled the bulk of their nation’s security. Their professions were dangerous enough as they were, without the threat of being seen as each other’s weaknesses if their relationship became publicly known. Even so, Arthur could never ask Giselle to retire from her duties, and he knew, likewise, she would never ask the same of him. All he could do was ask her to be careful.

‘It’s hard for me to not worry about you when you put yourself in unnecessary danger,’

He’d meant to sound more level headed, but something in his voice made Giselle carefully set down her pen and slowly turn to face him.

‘Danger is part of our job, Arthur,’ she said coolly. ‘Surely that’s not something you can just forget.’

‘What happened today wasn’t your job, it was mine,’ Arthur argued. ‘Your first priority is the Crown as mine is the nation.’

Giselle drummed her fingers against the wood of the desk, she did not like to have her actions questioned or confronted.

‘You’ve interfered with my work before,’ she crossed one leg over the other and interlaced her fingers. ‘You discovered a plot against the King and instead of sending your men to work with my Guards, what did you do? You went to find the King alone.’

‘I warned him to escape and dispatched two assassins!’ Arthur knew his defence was pointless, his actions had been foolish in the greater context and Giselle was sure to remind him of that.

‘There were eight more in the next room, ready to kill you and pursue the King had I not discovered the plot myself and arrived in time with the Guard.’ Giselle retorted without fail, just as Arthur had expected. ‘And I don’t remember barging into your room that night to rub that into your face.’

He remembered looking at the bodies of the two would-be assassins with satisfaction and moving to guard the secret hallway the King had fled down as the eight others involved in the plot entered through the same door he’d come through. He remembered realising they’d followed him to the Kings chambers and making the resolution to take the whereabouts of the secret hallway’s entrance with him to the grave. He remembered Giselle’s momentarily look of terror for him as she and the rest of her red cloaked Guard entered from the other door. He’d expected to be confronted by her later, and had been relieved when that confrontation never came.

‘Let’s call it even then,’ Arthur sighed, stepping closer to Giselle. ‘In the future we’ll both stay in our own affairs unless we’ve officially decided to work together.’

Giselle nodded curtly, as if this was just any other deal she made in her line of work, as if they were nothing more than the associates they claimed to be in public, and it hurt.

‘I’m glad this is sorted then,’ she paused as if to decide whether or not to say something. Catching Arthur’s expression, it was Giselle’s turn to sigh, her decision made. ‘I know it hard for both of us, but we agreed to do this so that neither of us would be hurt with the intent of forcing us to choose between each other and our duties. Because as much as—’ she lowered her voice. ‘—I love you, my duty to the Crown must always come first. And I know you would make the same choice for the sake of the nation.’

Arthur wasn’t sure if that was the decision he would make in actuality, but that was a dangerous thought and he shook his head.

‘It might not come to that,’ he reassured.

‘No,’ Giselle agreed. ‘Not if we’re careful.’ She offered him a tired smile. ‘Now go back to your room before any of your men try to find you. God knows how fast rumours can spread. Especially around loudmouths like that second-in-command of yours, Jones.’

‘Don’t be so hard on Alfred,’ Arthur admonished gently. ‘He means no harm in anything. Besides, he admires you greatly.’

‘Does he?’ Giselle asked absently, attention already turning back to whatever she’d been writing.

‘To the point of hero worship,’ Arthur confirmed with a laugh.

‘And not you?’ Giselle was uncapping her pen even as she laughed along.

‘Oh heavens no! Not me at all. In fact I think he rather fancies my position.’

For the second time that that night, Giselle set down her pen.

‘Jones must be dreaming if he thinks he’s in any way as capable as you are,’ she snapped acerbically in one of her rare displays of fierce loyalty. Arthur got the feeling that she would have attempted to throttle Alfred had he been present in the room. ‘Who does he think he is? He may be a prodigy soldier, but even then his skills in fighting and leadership pale in comparison to yours. It’ll be a very long time before he is even near qualified to take your place.’

‘Let’s just pretend I never told you that the next time we see Alfred, okay?’ Arthur said with amusement. ‘I’m sure he’s not actually actively planning to overthrow me.’

‘He shouldn’t even dare to think that way,’ Giselle growled, offended on his behalf, which only added to Arthur’s amusement.

The sound of stairs creaking reminded them of the ever present threat of being exposed.

‘You really should go now,’ Giselle murmured, expression returning to its usual austerity.

Arthur nodded and reluctantly took his leave, pausing just outside the door. Giselle noticed and smiled with fond indulgence.

‘Oh alright, hold on, ’

She got up and crossed the room to stop in front of him. Leaning upwards, she pressed her lips sweetly against his.

‘It won’t be like this forever,’ Giselle promised. Moments later a smirk spread across her face. ‘We’ll just have to wait until Jones is finally capable enough to replace you.’

Then Arthur was left facing a closed door.


End file.
